Feng Zirui knelt on the ground, with full courtesy. Standing in front of her were two concubines, two noble ladies, and their respective palace maids, a group of people, all women, with the smell of powder and cosmetics wafting in her nostrils, and their malicious looks. [Reading Pavilion Free]
Zirui knelt for a long time before he heard someone talking, "Feng Zirui? Who is Feng Zirui?"
Before Zirui could answer, someone else said, "Sister, don't you know? Feng Zirui is the son of the former Left Prime Minister Feng Jinyuan! He was the useless Prime Minister who was eventually driven by the Emperor to feed horses. Do you remember?"
The person who spoke before said "Oh", and then said in a trance: "So it's the child of the Feng family. Isn't that Princess Yu's brother? Tsk tsk, he has a good appearance, but it's a pity——" She spoke with a long tone, and the next sentence was a heart-wrenching sentence, "It's a pity that a finger was broken."
The severed finger was a humiliation for Zirui, not because he cared about his disability, but because the severed finger was given by his father. Whenever he thought of this, he would think of the Feng family in the past, and the unfair treatment he had suffered in the Feng family in the past, and his heart would hurt like a knife.
But he couldn't say anything at the moment, because the words came from the mouth of the palace concubine, and he had no right to refute. He didn't even dare to stand up, even if his legs were a little painful from the cold when he knelt on the ground, he couldn't say a word. He just hoped that these women would be kind and not make things too difficult for him. It was okay for him to kneel for a while longer, but they must not cause any extra trouble. In this palace, it is always better to have less trouble than more, not to mention that the palace today is no longer the palace he knew before.
However, things don't always go as planned. The concubines who were bent on currying favor with Concubine Yuan Shu were not willing to let Zirui go. The appearance of Feng Zirui was not only a change for them, but also a great opportunity to curry favor with Concubine Yuan Shu. So the four of them looked at each other and immediately reached an agreement: never let this young man go easily.
At that time, everyone was standing beside the small lake in the imperial garden. The lake was not big, but it was flowing water, so it was not frozen. But even without ice, it was still chilly in the winter. One nobleman rolled his eyes and pulled out a hairpin from his head. Without saying a word, he threw it into the water. When the hairpin fell into the water, he pretended to exclaim: "Oh! My hairpin fell into the water. What should I do? That is my favorite hairpin!"
Someone nearby immediately echoed, "But what about that gold hairpin inlaid with five-colored gemstones? That's a rare item!"
"That's the one." The noble who threw the hairpin into the water was very good at acting, and tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke. "That thing was brought to the palace by my family last year for me to enjoy. It is said that there is no other one in the whole Dashun area, and even the Queen praised it for its beauty, but now..."
"Then we must hurry down and fish it out!"
The two of them were talking and chatting loudly. A concubine standing nearby also spoke up. She looked at Feng Zirui and said, "Women are not allowed to go down to the lake to fish out hairpins. We only brought maids with us, not eunuchs. Now... Young Master Feng, you are the only man here. What do you think we should do about this?"
"Beautiful Concubine!" Before Feng Zirui could speak, Yue Rong spoke first, and pointed out the identity of this concubine. She said, "The young master of the Feng family is still young. He will be eleven after the New Year. He doesn't even know whether he can swim. How can he go to rescue? Besides, the lake water is icy cold in winter. Even if people don't freeze to death, they will lose a layer of skin if they go in. The young master of the Feng family was invited to the palace by the emperor. If he gets sick, I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it to the emperor when he asks about it."
"How dare you!" The concubine stared at Yuerong and felt that this girl looked familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen her before. Then she thought, Feng Zirui was an outsider, and the maids around him were all from the palace. After staying in the palace for a long time, who wouldn't look familiar to them? So she said angrily, "How can a servant like you interrupt when the masters are talking?"
"But……"
"No buts!" Meipin interrupted Yuerong and said to the maid beside her, "Go, slap me in the face!"
The maid rushed forward without saying a word, grabbed Yuerong's collar and slapped her left and right, and slapped her ears, leaving her speechless.
Zirui was anxious, and kowtowed again, saying, "Please forgive Sister Yuerong, please stop beating her. I can swim, I will go down and retrieve the hairpin. Please ask her to stop!"
"Stop!" Meipin raised her hand to stop the maid from beating her. Yuerong's mouth was bleeding and her face was swollen. Meipin sneered and asked Zirui, "Are you really willing to go down and retrieve the hairpin? You volunteered to do this. Don't blame me for not reminding you. It's freezing cold today. If you go down, be careful not to be able to come up again."
"Don't worry, Madam. Zirui volunteered. This matter has nothing to do with you."
"Good!" Meipin and the others were very satisfied with the result, so they said to Zirui, "Then go! If it's too late, I'm afraid the hairpin will float away to who knows where."
Zirui knew that he could not avoid what happened today, so he gritted his teeth, stood up, and walked straight to the lake.
Yue Rong was anxious and wanted to stop them, but four maids came up and stopped her. She begged helplessly, "Madam Meipin, please have mercy! Young Master Feng is too young to endure this torture. Otherwise... let me go down instead! Although I am not very good at swimming, I will get the hairpin back for you even if I have to risk my life."
"You?" Meipin suddenly laughed, "Who do you think you are? Do you think you are qualified to touch Guiren's five-colored gemstone gold hairpin? Humph! Keep an eye on her for me and don't let her scream anymore." Under Meipin's order, the maids simply covered Yuerong's mouth to prevent the imperial garden from making too much noise and attracting more people.
At this moment, there was a "plop" sound, and Feng Zirui had no choice but to jump into the lake. The cold water of the lake instantly invaded his whole body, and Zirui was so cold that he couldn't stretch his limbs. He swam less than three times before he sank to the bottom of the lake.
He felt desperate. The lake was too cold. His body was frozen stiff in an instant, not to mention finding the hairpin. Was he going to die here today? Zirui felt a little regretful. It would be so nice to stay in the small courtyard. Why did he have to come to the garden? Everyone in the palace was a cannibal. The more beautiful they were, the more venomous they were. He couldn't understand why these concubines had to make things difficult for him.
Of course, Yue Rong's words also echoed in his mind. These are all close to Concubine Yuan Shu. They are all close to Concubine Yuan Shu! Concubine Yuan Shu is the biological mother of the Eighth Prince and is in opposition to the Ninth Prince. Isn't it natural to deal with him?
Thinking this way, his body continued to sink to the bottom of the lake. Zirui felt a chill that was about to penetrate his soul, piercing his whole body like a knife. He no longer wanted to look for the golden hairpin. It was just an excuse made up by the other party to kill him. Only if he died would the other party be satisfied, right?
Seeing the child sink to the bottom of the lake without any movement for a long time, Yue Rong became so anxious that she bit the hand of the maid who was covering her mouth. The maid felt pain and let go of her. She didn't care about anything else and ran away. Meipin and others also saw Yuexiu running away, and immediately ordered the maid to chase her. The noble lady Qi asked worriedly at this time: "Is she dead?"
Another noble lady Liu took over the conversation: "If he really dies, will we be in trouble?"
Xiangpin, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up: "The emperor should be fine, after all, there is Concubine Shu to block it! I'm just worried about the Ninth Prince, what if he goes crazy and comes in with a whip to beat people..."
When this was mentioned, people couldn't help but shudder, even the beautiful concubine shivered. But then she came to her senses and couldn't help but smile: "Don't worry, now is different from the past. The palace is the world of the Eighth Prince and the Concubine Shu. Do you think the Ninth Prince can easily enter the harem? Not to mention whipping people with a whip, I'm afraid he will be caught by the Imperial Guards as soon as he breaks into the palace. We just have to wait and see the excitement." After saying that, she glanced at the lake again, her eyebrows still slightly frowned. That being said, the beautiful concubine was also a little uneasy. What if Feng Zirui really died, would they really be okay?
Just as they were thinking about it, they heard hurried footsteps behind them. Before they could turn around to look, they heard another "splash" and someone jumped into the water, sinking quickly to the bottom of the lake.
Concubine Qi was sharp-eyed and said in amazement, "It looks like a eunuch."
Concubine Liu described it in more detail: "It was the eunuch beside the Queen."
The few people finally reacted and turned around, and saw Yue Rong leading the Queen towards them. They pointed at them and said, "Queen, it was them. They deliberately threw the hairpin into the lake and forced the young master of the Feng family to jump into the lake to fish it out."
Accompanying the queen was a woman in red. She was wearing very thin clothes in the cold weather, without even a cloak. The woman was none other than Feng Zhaolian, who still stayed in Jingci Palace. For someone who grew up in Qianzhou, the winter in Dashun was too cold. He really didn't feel cold at all.
But this is not cold in terms of body, but the heart is getting colder day by day.
When the men approached and Meipin and the others saluted the queen, Feng Zhaolian looked at them with disgust, and without saying a word, she kicked one of them down. That man also fell into the lake with a "plop", and it was the noble lady Qi who threw away the hairpin on her own initiative.
Meipin was shocked and wanted to blame Feng Zhaolian, but when she saw Feng Zhaolian's face, she didn't know how to start. This man is too beautiful, which is a good thing. He is so beautiful that even those who want to scold him are embarrassed to open their mouths. What kind of realm is this?
But Meipin was too embarrassed to speak up. Feng Zhaolian was not so aware. He pointed at the remaining three people and said to the queen: "Women like Ba Xin who are disgusting should be driven out of the palace and sent to a nunnery. Why are they still in the palace? It's no wonder that the old emperor didn't touch them for more than 20 years. They are too ugly."
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